They were screaming. They were shouting.  There was stress.  Surprisingly,  there was no art happening.  I had a major infestation of gremlins that brought my creativity to a halt.

I had enough of these gremlins yelling at me.  Time for them to go.

I decided the best way to get rid of those gremlins was to create without thinking.  When I get stuck in my head and spend too much time thinking that seems to be an invitation for the gremlins to come in with their harsh negativity.  So, my answer- no thinking.  In this video, you will see how I start slapping things down.  I had to trust that it would be okay if I made something ugly.

I started with an art journal page that just felt yucky to me.  No matter what I did with this page, it couldn’t be any worse in my mind.  I pulled papers from my scrap boxes, the leftovers from other artistic endeavors.

I challenged the gremlins. I ignored the gremlins.  The gremlins got bored with me and left.  With them gone I could hear the soft whispers of my muse.

Here’s the finished art journal page to remind me that when the thoughts in my head make me feel weak, feel scared, feel inadequate that it is the gremlins.  When I hear my muse I feel stronger, more creative, and joyful.  So much more fun to play with my muse!  Do the gremlins ever visit you?

Links Mentioned in the Video

Sparks of Art-spiration – click here to sign up for my newsletter to get the monthly Spark of Art-spiration delivered to your inbox.

Use Your Words Free Workshop

Supplies Used

Door Stencil printed with the Gelli Plate (bits of color with PanPastels)

Stabilo Pencil     Catalyst Blade     Blickrylic Gel Medium

Linking up to Inspire Me Monday, Make It Monday, Anything But a Card (using up old supplies), Creative Every Day, Glue It Tuesday, Create Daily, and  Be Inspired and Be an Inspiration.

I am honored to share works sent to me by some of my newsletter readers using my free Sparks of Art-spiration. What is a Spark of Art-spiration?  It is a snippet of a larger work.  Something about the snippet sparks my creativity so I go with it.  I print out the spark in whatever size I feel like and then I play.  Since I can print it again and again in any size there is no fear of ruining it.  That gives me complete freedom to experiment, play, explore, and just have fun arting.

Karenliz has made magic with the mermaid above (drawn by my daughter).   She created more movement with the addition of the 2nd tail and gave this mermaid a colorful world to swim in with spray inks, stencils, and that fun pop of pink!  Clicking on the artists’ names will take you to their full blog posts.

Consie created a stunning cluster of butterflies on her painted tree.  This card is elegant with the gentle branches giving the butterflies a place to rest.  The neutral background lets the colors on the butterflies sing!  You can see how she made it step-by-step by clicking on her name.

Valerie found all sorts of fun images in this Spark.  Love the hands reaching and how they are different sizes-that adds such a playful feeling to it for me! Cars zooming down the road, the sun shining- what a great world she found in this Spark with her pen!

Vicki has created a colorful tag using a Spark for the background that takes flight with her birds!  Using only a portion of the Spark gives it a whole different look than if she’d used the entire Spark.

Want Sparks of Art-spiration delivered to your inbox about once a month in my free newsletter?  Just click here!  Have you been playing with a Spark? I’d love to see it – just send me an email at aColorfulJourney at gmail dot com!